Ryū Ko Niban (Tiger and Dragon No. 2: Dragon)

The second print of a pair on the theme of tiger and dragon, this sheet by Yajima Gōgaku depicts the dragon - the celestial counterpart whose battles with the earth-bound tiger were a central motif of Chinese cosmological painting and a frequent test of literati brushwork from the Song dynasty onward. The dragon, associated with rain, cloud, and the eastern direction, was understood as the embodiment of yang and the principle of generative movement; paired with the yin tiger, it formed one of the fundamental dualisms of East Asian symbolic thought. Gōgaku's nanga-school treatment uses restrained colour and confident calligraphic line to render the subject in the literati manner rather than the dramatic mode of contemporary ukiyo-e warrior prints. Issued between 1818 and 1830, the small sheet measures roughly 21 by 18 centimetres.